Nathan, Paul

(1857-1927)

   German philanthropist and public figure. He was the editor of the Berlin liberal publication Die Nation and the founder of the Hilfsverein der Deutschen Juden. He was active in international Jewish conferences on emigration and the relief of Jewish victims of persecution and war. During the trial of Menahem Mendel Beilis in 1913 on a blood libel charge Nathan helped to organize Beilis's defence outside Russia. Opposed to the Zionist movement, he advocated assimilation as a solution to anti-Semitism. After World War I, he fostered agricultural settlement among Russian Jewry.